This special session aims to re-examine the idea of voice in narrativetheory, and in particular to question the concept of voice as an inherentand independent agent of narrative discourse. The assumption of thestability and even validity of this concept and of the idea of voice moregenerally have been questioned in a number of recent developments, arguablymost radically in Jacques Derridaâ€™s deconstructive work, although the workof other thinkers, such as Mikhail Bakhtin, Maurice Blanchot and Paul deMan, has been nearly as significant in this respect. A crucial part ofDerridaâ€™s deconstructive project, especially in his early work, is hisdeconstruction of the uncritically assumed opposition between voice/speechand writing, and the hierarchical primacy of the former over the latter,dominant throughout Western intellectual history. Derrida also extendedthis deconstruction to his specific analysis of narrative, as did severalof his followers; and the work of others, such as Blanchot and de Man,pursued similar critical agenda. This criticism, notwithstanding, the viewof narrative voice grounded in the ideas of its inherent and independentagency continues to dominate the understanding of voice in narrative theoryand in practical criticism of narrative literature. Accordingly, among thequestions we would like to address are: What challenges does Derridaâ€™sdeconstruction and related developments, pose (and we believe they stilldo) to the currently dominant (mostly still formalist and structuralist)conceptions of voice in narrative theory? Why do they appear to have hadonly a limited impact in this field thus far? How can they shape thisfield in the future? Arguments built at the intersection of narratology,deconstruction, philosophy, and literature (preferably modernist andpostmodernist) are especially welcome.

Please submit 500-word abstracts and 2-page cv to Olga Medvedeva(omedvede_at_purdue.edu). The deadline for proposal is March 1, 2008